It’s Time to Break the Glass … Again!

Even though we’re all motivated, talented, focused creators of our art, sometimes we have to
PUSH THROUGH RESISTANCE, don’t we?

When I need a kick in the keyboard, I reach for my EMERGENCY INSPIRATION file.  I titled it READ ME FIRST and I keep the brilliance fresh by switching out quotes from authors and thinkers that are particularly helpful at the time.
As I look at the file today, I figure it applies to each of us in one way or another!

[box] STEVEN PRESSFIELD The War of Art (paraphrased for my use!)

Resistance feeds on Fear. (….) Fear that we will succeed.
Fear that we will access the power that we secretly know we possess. Fear that we will become the person that we sense in our hearts we truly are.

We come into this world with a specific personal destiny… and we’re stuck with it. Our job in this lifetime is not to shape ourselves into some ideal we imagine we ought to be, but to find out who we already are and become it. [/box]

 

By the way, flop open to any page in DO THE WORK by Steven Pressfield and you’ll be motivated.  I kick-box fear.

One of the deceptions I fight against is that I don’t want to devote my time and energies to achieve some material ambition to be famous or wealthy or influential in any specific way. I truly want to submit to God’s plan for my work and the person he created in me.  I want humility to lead confidence and let each do their job.

[box] EUGENE PETERSEN: A Long Obedience in the Same Direction

… the kind of thing Paul expressed: “I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward – to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back” (Phil 3:14). But if we take the energies that make for aspiration and remove God from the picture, replacing Him with our own crudely sketched self-portrait, we end up with ugly arrogance. [/box]

[box] STEVEN FURTICK: Sun Stand Still My newest favorite.

Audacity isn’t the absence of uncertainty and ambiguity.

Audacity is believing that God’s promise is bigger than my “perhaps.”[/box]

[box] PARKER PALMER: Let Your Life Speak (by the way: this is title is painted on the wall in our home)

Discovering vocation does not mean scrambling toward some prize just beyond my reach, but accepting the treasure of true self I already possess. Vocation does not come from a voice “out there” calling me to become something I am not. It comes from a voice “in here” calling me to be the person I was born to be to fulfill the original selfhood give me at birth by God.[/box]

[box] MICHELE CUSHATT: Blog entry (http://michelecushatt.com/fizzle-or-fortitude/)

Your struggle as a writer (or just about anything else) isn’t going to be so much about coming up with a brilliant idea, but knowing how to forge ahead as long as necessary once God gives you one.[/box]

[box] SARA YOUNG Jesus Calling 

Walk by faith, not by sight. As you take steps of faith, depending on me, I will show you how much I can do for you. If you live your life too safely, you will never know the thrill of seeing me work through you. When I gave you my Spirit, I empowered you to live beyond your natural ability and strength. That’s why it’s so wrong to measure your energy level against the challenges ahead of you. The issue is not your strength, but mine, which is limitless. By walking close to me, you can accomplish my purposes in My strength. (Her references: 2 Cor 5:7 and Gal 5:25)[/box]

 

Go: Heart outstretched.

Do: Bravely.

Smile, Laugh, Have a great time!